Two meteorological payloads (Imaging System, Atmospheric Sounder) were activated on August 7 - 8, 2013. Performance of payloads are satisfactory and the preliminary images received are of good quality. The cameras are undergoing testing and commissioning phase.
Imaging System
For meteorological observations, INSAT-3D carries a multi-spectral Imager (optical radiometer) capable of generating the images of the earth in six wavelength bands significant for meteorological observations, namely, visible (VIS), short-wave infrared (SWIR), middle infrared (MIR), water vapor (WV) and two bands in thermal infrared (TIR1 and TIR2) regions. The Imager will generate images of the earth disk from geostationary altitude of 36,000 km every 26 minutes and provide information on various parameters, namely, outgoing long-wave radiation, quantitative precipitation estimation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud motion winds, etc. Imager payload is an improved version of VHRR flown on INSAT-3A and Kalpana-1 satellites with significant improvements in spatial resolution, number of spectral channels and functionality. Initial Products of Imager
More Pictures from Imager
Atmospheric Sounder
INSAT-3D also carries a newly developed 19 channel sounder, which is the first such payload to be flown on an ISRO satellite mission. The Sounder has eighteen narrow spectral channels in short-wave infrared, middle infrared and long wave infrared regions and one channel in the visible region. It will provide information on the vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone. These profiles will be available for a selected region over Indian landmass every one hour and for the entire Indian Ocean Region every six hours. Initial Products of Sounder
Geo-Physical Parameters (GPR) derived from INSAT-3D Imager and Sounder
